Infante Carlos, Count of Molina

Infante Carlos, Count of Molina (29 March 1788-10 March 1855) was an Infante of Spain and the second son of King Carlos IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma. He was a reactionary who was angry with liberalism and assaults on the Catholic Church, and he claimed the throne after the death of his brother, King Fernando VII of Spain, in 1833, leading to the First Carlist War. He was the "Carlist" pretender to the throne from 1 October 1833 to 18 May 1845, when Infante Carlos, Count of Montemolin became the new pretender.

Biography
Infante Carlos was born in Aranjuez, Spain on 29 March 1788, the son of King Carlos IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma. From 1808 to 1814, Carlos and his brothers were imprisoned by Emperor Napoleon I of France at Somosierra during the Peninsular War, but the family returned to Madrid in 1814 upon the end of the war. He married his niece Infanta Maria Francisca of Portugal in 1816, and the two had three children together. Carlos held no governmental positions under his brother King Fernando VII of Spain, who allied with moderate liberals to sign a constitution; Carlos believed in the divine right of kings, the rigid orthodoxy of his religious opinions, and the piety of his life. In 1830, Fernando published the "Pragmatic Sanction", allowing for daughters to inherit the throne. On 10 October 1830, Fernando's wife gave birth to a daughter, who became "Queen Isabella II of Spain" on Fernando's death in 1833. Carlos had refused to swear allegiance to Isabella as "Princess of Asturias" (heir apparent) during Fernando's lifetime, and he refused to accept her as queen after she was coronated. Carlos became the leader of the reactionary Carlists, who opposed liberalism, secularism, and the Pragmatic Sanction, and a civil war erupted as the "First Carlist War" broke out between Isabella's liberal supporters and Carlos' reactionary supporters. The war was lost in 1839, and Carlos left Spain for France, where he was briefly imprisoned. He died in exile in Trieste, Austrian Empire in 1855 at the age of 66.